“As a rout in energy prices spreads to global equities, investors are returning to gold to take cover,” begins a Bloomberg article about how assets in GLD, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, rose on Wednesday “at the fastest pace since July. The holdings are up almost 1 percent in December, snapping four straight months of losses.” Spot gold and silver did however end marginally lower on Thursday, falling about one-fifth of a percent following what was described as an“upbeat”retail-sales report But following that release, notes Reuters, “data showed the net worth of U.S. households fell in the third quarter for the first time in three years, hit by a fall in the value of their stock holdings and rising debts, giving mixed signals on the outlook for consumer spending.”

The metals moved a mere 0.2% on Wednesday, with spot silver ending up and gold down. “The weak oil prices sapped some of the strength out of the gold market,” according to HSBC analyst James Steel, but “weak equities and the stronger euro were positive, and that kept the losses to a minimum.” And while both metals consolidated recent gains, Arabian Money‘s Peter Cooper suggests that “The recent sell-off in precious metals seems to be over with a massive increase in long positions in the Comex powering prices to the upside.” And asking, “What could sustain a precious metals rally this time?,” he predicts “a flight to safety as other asset markets break down. Whether you look at bonds or equities they have a definite sense of vertigo at these levels.”

On Monday, American Silver Eagles hit an annual sales record, as the latest tally by the U.S. Mint put the sale of 2014-dated bullion Eagles at 42,864,000, besting 2013’s previous record by almost 200,000. But, reports Coin News, “This year’s annual record cannot climb too much higher. The supply of Silver Eagles will be shut off for about three weeks. On Friday, the U.S. Mint told its authorized purchasers that it was transitioning production from 2014-dated coins to 2015, and that it expects to have ‘enough coins to offer allocations through the week of December 15th.'” More from Silver Coins Today, which reports that the launch of 2015-dated Eagles will be January 12.

After the November non-farm payrolls report showed a gain of 321,000 jobs, spot silver and gold came off lows on Friday to end the day down 0.9% and 1.2% respectively, reports Reuters, quoting one analyst as saying, “It will be interesting to see how (gold) develops as we move towards the FOMC meeting on Dec. 17.” He predicts that “If we have a more hawkish Fed, more of an adjustment in interest rate expectations, and a still higher dollar,” it will be negative for gold. Given those prospects, a Mining.com report concludes that “the damage may have been greater” for gold and silver on Friday, but argues that both were spared larger losses because they have “run out of big sellers.” And despite Friday’s downturn, silver and gold still ended up 5.5% and 2.1% on the week.

USA Gold calls out Draghi for having “said the ECB had discussed all assets except one. Really? Sovereign bonds? Student debt? Auto loans? Junk bonds? Everything except gold? I think that was thrown in to counter ECB board member Yves Mersch’s comment from several weeks ago that gold purchases were indeed possible. Draghi just doesn’t want the gold market to run on him.”

Spot silver and gold ended mixed on Wednesday, with the former off a fraction of a percent while gold was up about one percent. In what Reuters describes as “volatile trading,” gold was said to have been “boosted by firmer oil prices that prompted investors to shuffle positions while largely shrugging off the firm U.S. dollar.”

“A whipsaw in oil is spurring the biggest price swings for gold in almost nine months,” reports Bloomberg, pointing out that the correlation between the two “rose close to 0.4 today, the strongest link since July 2013. A reading of 1 means the prices move in lockstep.” It quotes one trader predicting “higher volatility in gold with oil and interest rate-hike uncertainty,” but another tells MarketWatch that despite volatility between now and year’s end, “I don’t see a sustained move one way or the other. I think we range trade for a while and attempt to consolidate gold around the $1,200 level and silver above $16.”

After falling off in early trading, spot gold and silver soared to end up 4.2% and 6.9% respectively on Monday, reports Reuters, attributing the gains to “the surging oil market, technical buy signals and potential for increased Indian imports… The rally followed a thinly traded move lower, viewed by traders as overdone, after Switzerland voted on Sunday against a proposal to boost its gold reserves.” MarketWatch adds a dollar retreat and a downgrade in Japan’s sovereign debt rating to the list.

Spot gold and silver ended off 1.9% and 4.3% respectively Friday, falling with oil as the U.S. dollar gained after OPEC left its production target unchanged at a meeting on Thursday. “It is a brave new world,” declared one analyst quoted by Reuters, “OPEC is clearly drawing a line in the sand at 30 million barrels per day. Time will tell who will be left standing.”

In response to a CNBCarticle asking, “Could oil collapse cause next credit crisis?,” USA Gold’s Mike Kosares looks at the potential impact on gold and silver prices if that happens:

“If the latest oil shock – this time in a southerly direction – creates knock on effects, we will hear a great deal about systemic risks in the days and weeks ahead, Recall that gold at first went south in the crisis of 2007-2008 and then headed sharply higher as investors moved to shore up their portfolio’s against the possibility of a showdown on Wall Street and within the banking system.

We are in a much different situation today than we were back then and the system as a whole still suffers from the damage done by the last crisis. If a crisis were to hit today, it would start with a much weaker line-up on the playing field than the last time around. Keep in mind too that all of this has occurred because quantitative easing on a global basis simply has not worked.

We suspect that gold and silver demand will grow stronger even if the price weakens, or perhaps because the price weakens. Those who understand the virtues of gold ownership are not going to suddenly go to their national currencies, or the banking system, or the New York Stock Exchange as a defense. They will go to gold and silver.”

“Sentiment toward gold is at such a bearish extreme,” begins a MarketWatch analysis, that “it seems as if every market seer is saying it’s time to buy because nearly everyone else has been selling.” It cites the proprietor of a sentiment tracking service, who calls an early November sentiment showing that just 3% of traders were bullish, one of “the most extreme we have seen.” He compares it to a 98% bullish reading in August 2011, “just as gold was about to embark on a journey from more than $1,900 an ounce down into the $1,100s.” Among the strongest of the bearish-is-bullish adherents are the Elliott Wave practitioners, two of whom expressed their optimistic forecasts for gold and silver last week.

As the non-financial mainstream media begin focusing on Sunday’s Swiss gold referendum, USA Today reports a Bank of America prediction that “the price of gold could jump to more than $1,350 an ounce — an increase of 18%,” if the “yes” vote prevails. And a Guardian article, headlined “Fears that ‘dangerous’ Switzerland referendum could spark gold rush,” refers to a quote by the chairman of the Swiss National Bank, who said during a ‘sermon’ he delivered at a Swiss church, “The initiative is dangerous because it would weaken the SNB.”

But the lion’s share of the Guardian‘s quotes come from precious metals analyst and blogger Koos Jansen, who calls the Swiss initiative “merely part of a increasing global scramble towards gold and away from the endless printing of money,” adding that “While those behind the Swiss initiative have often been portrayed as crazy, they’re merely acting out of fear that their central bank is losing control of its monetary policy, and of the Swiss franc being sucked into this currency war and losing its value.”